I received this beautiful dress as a part of a collaboration with The Seamstress of Bloomsbury. All opinions are my own.
Over the past few years, I have fallen in love with 1930's and 1940's style dresses. So much in fact that I am a seamstress that makes dresses for me from vintage patterns that I find. But sometimes it's just easier to buy a dress that is ready to wear right then. And that's why I fell in love with The Seamstress of Bloomsbury.
The story behind The Seamstress of Bloomsbury is quite endearing along with their clothes. In 1939, when England was on the brink of WWII, Lillian Wells was apprenticed to a Bloomsbury dressmaker. She learned her trade well and had dreams of sewing beautiful clothes to the aristocratic families that lived around Bloomsbury square. She also dreamed of meeting a soldier, getting married and having children. Unfortunately, she never met her soldier and she became known as The Seamstress of Bloomsbury. Her work was admired and sought after by many aristocratic families around the world.
The Seamstress of Bloomsbury has continued where Lillian Wells left off. They are reviving her old patterns and designs from the 1940's.
When I first found The Seamstress of Bloomsbury, I completely fell in love. And not just because their landing page plays Glenn Miller either! Their designs and patterns make you feel like you really are right in the midst of the 1940's.
The dress I received was the Mae Dress in Wine and Ivory. When I first saw this dress, it screamed at me because the colors and cut were perfect! Not to mention that it's made from Crepe de Chine fabric which was typical of vintage dresses.
The Mae dress features original square jet style buttons and a cream undercollar. The buttonholes are diagonal and they're also sewn into the contrasting cream color underneath. The skirt is a full circle so even though on their site it gives you measurements for hips, I found that I didn't need them personally since it was a circle skirt.
Since the dress is made from Crepe de Chine fabric, if you've ever worn it before, you will know that it can wrinkle easily. I would suggest keeping it hung up and never folding it. Also I would take care to dry clean this type of dress because if you wash it in a machine, you will most likely need to steam out the wrinkles.
The Mae dress currently comes in UK sizes 8-16 which would be US 4-14. It has a lovely fit, is very comfortable and cool to wear, and has an effortless easy elegant look to it. You will look and feel amazing in it with such little effort! It has personally become my new go-to dress for errands.
The Seamstress of Bloomsbury also sells other types of vintage clothes along with their dresses and all are made in England.
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